Tashkent was our next big destination, one we have been looking forward to ever since people have told us how great it is. We booked ourselves a walking tour and learned all about this ancient citys history. The city was founded in the times where caravans still brought spices from China all the way to Europe and vice versa. It has been occupied by pretty much every mayor culture that has come and gone in this region, oftentimes burning it to the ground. Therefore, lots of Tashkent is actually quite modern and of course, much larger than in ancient times.
We also visited a few sites, but the mosques and mausoleums weren’t all that great, especially since they were overshadowed by the absolutely gigantic building site, which will one day be the centre for Islamic culture. As per now, its just an eyesore, but I’ve no doubt it will be well worth a visit in a year or two. We also walked through the old town- personally, I’ve found “old towns” here decidedly underwhelming. It’s basically one or two-storey, sand-coloured and slightly dilapidated buildings. Usually, they’re not very pretty. The streets do wind in utterly unpredictable ways and don’t follow any sort of logical sense, which feels somewhat adventerous and is definitely a reason to get lost.
A highlight, as per usual, was the bazaar. It was huge, filled with all kinds of foodstuffs, spices, fruit, meat, clothing, sometimes even live animals. We had great fun in trying on different hats, though in the end, we decided against buying them. We also witnessed them baking bread- the way of doing so with this specific type of oven is that you stick the bread to walls and let it be baked from below by the open flame. When the bakers saw me looking and taking pictures, they had me harvest my own bread. It was delicious, hot and fresh. The bakers were very friendly and waved us on our way.
We very much enjoyed the greater opporutnities for different food- especially Korean and Japanese food is very popular here, which was a delightful change from the usual plov and shashlik. This was also the first time we managed to go to a nightclub, which was recommended to us by the hostel owner. It is called Bla Bla Bar and was so incredibly expensive and fancy that we definitely stood out, not only because of our shabby clothes and lack of makeup, but also because of our unwillingness to pay 9 (!!!) Euro for a beer (350 ml !!!). The cocktails were cheaper and truly excellent, but after drinking two apiece and spending more than on our average meal budget, we called it a night and went walking through town, looking for another place to go.
On our way, walking along the main street which is called “Broad way” by the locals, we passed a bar call “FM Bar” and I thought “Oh good, another bar, maybe this one will be more suited to our budget.
Maybe it’s radio-themed?” We went up to the entrance and were greeted by the black-clad bouncer. He smiled pleasantly, greeted us politely and then asked “Is this your first time?”
We said, yeah, sure, why?
Its a strip club, he answered.
Yeah, so we didn’t and went home.
